Us
by camikyra2
Summary: Jessie and James embark on a big new mission, and it makes Jessie wonder about how she got here, and where she's going.
1. Chapter 1

**This is an idea I've had mulling around for a while. Bear with me as I get it on paper. This is set in a slightly alternate universe, so please excuse the liberties I've taken with the setting/story. This is only the first chapter of many. Enjoy. :) **

Chapter 1: Monument

Our noses were always the first thing to rust over. I hoisted myself up onto the granite slab that served as the base for the bronze replicas of myself and my partner. The air suddenly felt colder, crisper as I found myself nose-to-nose with James again.

"I'm just here to get rid of this rust," I said to his statue, reaching up with a sleeved wrist to polish the metal face. It wasn't perfect, but then, the sculptor had never met us, either. His eyes weren't quite right, but the likeness was enough to take me back to those days long gone whenever I came to this place. I allowed myself a moment with my old friend. Studying his cheeks, the hair that feel around his face, his smile. They did get his smile right. I breathed a heavy puff of breath, and the visible air hung around his face for a moment, brightening the bronze. I smiled back at him.

Gravel crunched on the distant path behind me in the woods Opelucid City, and I hurried off the statue. Pulling my jacket close around me and wrapped my scarf tightly around my face, I continued nonchalantly down the path, hoping my red blaze of hair wouldn't give me away. Lucky, today, as the two young visitors hurried right past me. I listened as they argued over who would be the first to get a photo with the statue of The Heroes Jessie and James. I usually tried not to pay attention to those who fawned over our likenesses, but today I took a minute to turn and watch from down the path. The boy read aloud excitedly from the plaque below "our" feet.

"For their infinite courage, and for their ultimate sacrifice," He called out to his companion as she scrambled up James' leg, "We of Opelucid City offer Jessie and James eternal gratitude with this statue."

"I am eternally grateful," The girl called back, draping her scarf around James' neck, and then around her own, binding them close. "for this handsome stud!"

Her companion shouted his displeasure at that, playfully pulling her off the statue, and climbing up himself.

How long had it been now, since they erected this statue? It felt like an eternity to me, but really it must have been close to 10 years ago. These kids could have only been seven years old on that awful day. The gravel crunched under my heel as I turned back down the hill. A long ten years ago...

* * *

I've never liked trips to Team Rocket Stations. They lend themselves to critique of our less-than-perfect performance, both from peers and from management. James has always sort of liked them, though. I think somewhere, deep down, he was always waiting for that one mission that will rocket us to the mafia fame that he knows we're capable of.

This one was in Lacunosa Town. Hidden beneath the one of the massive stone staircases that wrapped around the city was a little doorway that lead to the huge expanse of the gymnasium-like Rocket Station. Every city had one, and I always wondered what the locals in each town would think if they were ever to find out we were operating under their noses as we were. I imagined Lacunosa may not even care – they're about as laid back as they come. Maybe this was why the hundreds of Rockets that poured into the Station were less than discreet about their presence. The gruff laughter of our comrades, those who ranged anywhere from sixteen years old to thirty something, echoed beneath the stairwell as they filed into the meeting space. Funny, I noted, it had been so long since we'd had one of these meetings, I found myself identifying more with the older Rockets now. The men with the stubble and a cigarette hanging out of their mouths suddenly seemed familiar and close. Probably because these were the men and women that we had been seeing for the thirteen years that we had been involved with Team Rocket. One of them clapped James on the back as we made out way into the dark meeting hall.

"Hey kiddo! Still after that Pikachu?" He seemed quite pleased with that quip, laughing so hard his barrel of a chest rose and fell in a great heaving motion.

James sort of stumbled under the man's grip. "I think we'll have him soon, Bill!" He countered, but Bill was already on his way to tease another old recruit. James looked to me with a shrug, and I could only roll my eyes. We both knew we were the laughing stock around these meetings.

With an ear-pierced shriek from the PA system, a Black Rocket stepped up to the podium at the head of the room.

"Alright, ya shits!" He boomed, tapping on the microphone for added effect. "Quiet down, we've got important business to talk about." He straightened the shoulders of his starched black Rocket uniform as he waited for the motley crowd to settle into place.

Someone in the crowd shouted "Get on with it!".

The Black Rocket leaned over the podium, pointing an accusing finger into the crowd. "Hey! Do you want to keep your job? Huh? Then I suggest you shut up!" The crowd grumbled with laughter as the Black Rocket cleared his throat. "Alright, enough funny business. Here's the deal. We're going to have Giovanni step up to the mic in a minute and tell you what the plan is. On your way out, you'll all grab a packet of information on what the task is." The crowd rumbled with displeasure. "Hey! Trust me, you're going to want this to refer back to later on. This is a pretty complicated thing we've got going! So just quit your whining and make sure you get the papers on the way out. Alright? Good. Now, without further ado, Mr. Giovanni!"

The Black Rocket stepped away from the podium and quickly snapped to attention with his right hand extended to the brim of his black cap in salute. The rest of the crowd assumed the same pose, and an impressive crack rang through the hall as feet fell into place. I couldn't help but crack a smile at James' salute – so serious – his green eyes trained firmly ahead on The Boss. As he took the stage. He nudged me with an elbow in an effort to say "stop laughing". So I did.

Giovanni always looked 100% put together, and today was no exception. He was considerably taller than the Rocket who had the podium before him, and his stocky build wasn't the only thing that the crowd found intimidating. The Boss, Giovanni, was known to be truly ruthless – sometimes snatching people from the crowd and forcing them to fight each other, just for fun. But today it seemed like fun was far from his mind. Deadly serious, he took a moment to adjust the microphone before beginning his speech.

"Good evening. At ease, recruits," The 'snap' resonated again as hands went back to their sides. I made a point of knocking James in the head with my hand on its way down. He scowled back.

"I want you all to pay great attention to the words I am about to speak, for this evening we will all embark on one of the most important missions of your career,"

"'Fetching me a hamburger, I'm hungry!'" I mocked Giovanni's deep voice under my breath. The recruit next to James shot me a disapproving look.

"In 24 hours, we will all have arrived in Opelucid City, where we will carefully and methodically enter upon Lucid Labs, which - as some of you may have already heard on previous missions – is where a new fossil Pokemon is currently being developed. This Pokemon holds great power, a power which most of you are too dull to truly comprehend. But I hope you can comprehend what obtaining this Pokemon will mean for Team Rocket, should we succeed,"

"Honor and strength!" The crowd chimed in with Team Rocket's motto, James with them.

Giovanni chuckled softly. "Yes. Honor and strength. And inevitably, our rule over the land of Unova!"

Again, the crowd roared with cheers, and it seemed genuine. Apparently James wasn't the only one who thought that this mission would mean something for us. Part of me entertained the thought of success. Finally being able to work our way up the ranks – stay in fancy hotels instead of dingy abandoned cabins, eat expensive meals at marble tables in lieu of ramen noodles over a campfire. I could live with it.

Giovanni gave a few more words of encouragement to the masses before leaving the podium again. Another Black Rocket stepped up to give us our assignments. Starr and Belle had traps on the 4th Floor. Henry and Dutchess were in charge of hostages on the 5th floor. Alli and Clay would be dealing directly with Pokemon capture. As the names rattled off, I watched James grow more and more anxious as to where we would be assigned. The hope for a good position only seemed to intensify as the list of names grew longer. He shot me a furtive glance when it seemed like they were just about out of names. With the last two Rockets having been assigned to "Priority Pokemon Handling", our options seemed promising.

"Jessie and James, entry patrol on floor 10,"

"What?" James turned to me in disbelief. "We're watching the doors?"

"Did you expect anything less?"

"I don't think there is anything less," Dejected, he joined the mass of Rockets as the speech finished, and we began shuffling back out the entryway beneath the stairs.

We were assigned to work with the other Rockets working on our floor, so we met the some twelve other recruits waiting for us just outside Lacunosa the next morning. One of them whistled loudly as we came close.

"Uh-oh, here comes trouble!"

"And make it double!" Another Rocket chimed in, and the whole group burst into laughter.

"Can it, assholes!" I shouted back at them. "We're stuck here just like you are!"

"Fine," the first one retorted, spitting out the stub of his cigarette and stubbing it out with the tip of his boot. "Let's just get walking. I'd like to make it to Opelucid in time to grab a beer!" And the others hollered back their agreement. I hung back behind the group as we walked, and James stayed close. At least we were all White Jackets, here. I knew I would end up in a fistfight if we had to walk 10 hours with a bunch of cocky Black Rockets.

James tripped over a root as we walked, his nose buried in the paperwork from the meeting. I grabbed it from him, tossing it into the treeline.

"Come on, you don't need that,"

"Jessie!" He clamored after it, picking up the ruffled stack of papers and dusting it off on his leg. He huffed, and I knew he was picking his words carefully to keep from angering me further. "It's just...they think we're nobody."

"We ARE nobody, James,"

He looked indignant. "No, we're Jessie and James – the greatest team Team Rocket has ever seen!"

I laughed, and he frowned.

"Don't you remember? After we got assigned to each other when we first joined the Team?"

My eyes followed a Pidove as it flew down the trail ahead of us. "Yeah, I remember."

"You don't believe it, do you?" He sidled up closer to me as we walked, so he could talk quietly, "What if we proved it to them? What if we found something so amazing to do during this mission that they would never forget our names? What do you think?"

I sighed, "Just do what your told, James. And then we can get on with our lives."

He stopped talking for a while, widening our distance from each other as we walked. The group ahead of us erupted with laughter, and a few turned back to sneak glances at us.

"I just think," James went on, his eyes trained on the group ahead, "I just think we can do better. I think we're more than this."

He turned to look for my reaction, and I huffed,"just walk." He turned away, busying himself with the paperwork again.

I would never admit it to him, but after thirteen years with Team Rocket, I was starting to question what we were doing here, at all. He was right – we could do better. But what did any of it matter anymore? I felt like we were destined to be the bottom of the totem pole. I wanted so badly to be more than what we were. I never would have imagined that after thirteen years, I would still be wearing a white jacket. Sometimes I wondered if maybe it was him. Maybe he was the reason I was still out in the woods day after day chasing some kid's Pikachu. Sometimes I wondered what would be different if I had been assigned to someone else. Someone more fit, more clever.

Consumed by the paperwork again, James fell square on his face on the trail. I walked on past him. Sometimes, I just wondered. It couldn't hurt to wonder.

* * *

When the sky turned from orange to black, we stopped, and set up camp. Around the fire, James stayed quiet, no longer prodding me with questions about how to make the mission better for us. I was thankful for the peace. The others in the group sloppily slurped up their fire-heated dinners from tin cans, loudly sharing stories about previous missions.

"And he sends out a goddamned Swadloon," It was the asshole from that morning. I guess his name was Samson. I overheard him talking with some of the others while we were looking for firewood that night. He suddenly burst into laughter so hard, he almost couldn't finish the rest of his sentence. "A goddamed Swadloon! And my Machoke just walks right over and punches it right in the face!" The group erupted in guffaws, and I couldn't help but join in. James wasn't laughing, still enveloped in the plans for the mission.

A black-haired recruit slapped his knee, doubled over with laughter. "I always knew Delilah's Machoke has some spunk in it!"

As soon as the wood "Delilah" came from his mouth, the laughter silenced. Samson bowed his head. The others exchanged furtive glances. After a few moments, a younger recruit spoke up: "Come on, man, we were having a good time."

"What happened?" Suddenly, James wasn't so wrapped up in the book anymore. His green eyes shone in the light of the fire, searching Samson for an answer.

The black-haired recruit stammered for words, "Listen, it's probably not-"

Samson put a hand up to stop him. "No, it's alright." He squirmed a bit where he sat on the ground, steeling himself. "Delilah was my partner. She...she died. About two months ago."

James put his book down.

Samson gave something of a half-smile. "We were in Dragonspiral Tower. Trying to get some info about Zekrom. Or Reshiram. Either one, it didn't matter. The Boss sent us. Well," he let out an exasperated breath. "We ran into Team Plasma. She fired at them, and they - well – they killed her."

I guess that was all the information he wanted to give, because that's where the story stopped. James studied the ground.

"I'm sorry,"

He chuckled, smearing the back of his hand across his cheek. "Don't be. She would've hated seeing me all blubbery like this."

Talk about a mood killer. The other Rockets went back to finishing their canned dinners quietly, and eventually crawled to their sleeping bags as the fire began to die down. James and I sat awake, not talking, for what must have been almost an hour. When the last of the embers went out, he stood up to head towards his sleeping bag. I heard him stop behind me. He stooped down to give me a quick hug around the shoulders.

"Jess, I-"

I put a hand on the arm that lay across my collar. "Don't."

"Right," He stepped away, and went to his sleeping bag.

Hours passed, and I dreamt of being home with my mother. Our shack of a home had wind whistling through the broken slats of wood that did their best to act as walls. She was always so happy, smiling and laughing with me and we formed snowball into imaginary feast. We had nothing and she was always smiling, always smiling. Even in my dreams.

I woke up wondering when I let her smiles get away from me.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

James' rolled-up sleeping bag landed squarely on my chest, and I woke up with a start. The blue-haired boy stood over me, hands on his hips.

"Must've been some nightmare,"

I smoothed my hair, pulling myself out of the sleeping bag. "It's none of your business."

He smiled, took his sleeping bag back. "You were talking in your sleep all night."

"Good lord, I hope you didn't hear all my deep, dark secrets." My feet were sore when I stood up, and I thought about the walking we still had ahead of us.

"Only a few!"

As I rolled up my sleeping bag, I was surprised to find James and Samson talking casually to each other. I must have been asleep for a while, I thought, for him to have become so friendly with the man who seemed so abrasive towards us just the day before!

With everything packed, I tried to beat back the sleepiness, as it seemed the rest of the group was already ready to go. Samson smiled as I approached, bushy brown eyebrows arching over his eyes.

"There's our sleeping beauty!"

Maybe this is just how he is, I thought. "Yeah, well, you look like you could use a good dose of beauty sleep yourself."

"Ho ho!" He laughed, wrapping a broad arm around my shoulders. "Let us go, sweetheart!"

James was laughing, too, and I furrowed my eyebrows at him, trying to decipher if it was genuine or jealousy. But much to my surprise, it seemed genuine.

The sun was just creeping above the tops of the tops as we trod on, and I was thankful that the weather was cool and brisk this morning. It must have been ten degrees cooler than yesterday. I tried to decide how the approaching cool weather might affect our mission the next day, but realized that I really didn't have much of an understanding of what would be going on. James would have to fill me in later.

The group bustled with early morning chatter, and Samson called over them to me from the other side of the trail.

"So James here was telling us it's been about thirteen years on the force. Is that right?" He shoved a handful of granola into his mouth.

"Yeah, I guess that would be right," He sounded condescending to me, and I did my best to mask my disdain for the attitude.

"Thirteen years is a long time. It's only been about ten for me. Hopefully I'm not still here by thirteen."

James was much more engaged in the group now, and turned away from chatting with one of the others to join the conversation. "Were you with Delilah for all ten?"

"James!" I muttered.

Samson waved a hand about. "It's okay, it's okay. Listen, I love talking about her, despite my little meltdown last night. Yes, just about. I was reassigned in my third year. I guess that would've made us about seven years together then." He took a moment to swallow his mouthful of breakfast. "What about you guys? Together all thirteen?"

James gave me a slight smile. "Yes, all thirteen years. And then some."

"Sounds like a story, Jimmy! Do tell!"

He glanced at me again, and I gave him a look that said "don't tell this asshole anything", but he either ignored it or didn't understand it, and went on. "We actually met at Pokemon Tech when we were teenagers."

"Oh! A couple of bookworms!"

"Yeah, well," I interjected, "We flunked out during our first semester. Or rather, I flunked out, and James followed."

James looked surprised by that. "You know that is not true..."

"We joined the Bridge Bike Gang after that."

"No kidding! Man, that's a name I haven't heard in a while," Samson said. "That bunch of punks...what the name of the kid with the Zapdos on his handlebars? Chuck, Ch-"

"Chopper," James finished. "God, that Zapdos looked awful."

"Like, 'rawr, I'm a bird squiggly bird!'" Samson laughed again. "So how did you end up with the Team, then?"

I sighed. "Lord, I don't know. I guess I felt like it was the next best option. I had nowhere else to go."

"Jessie's parents died when she was young," James added, and I sneered at him.

"Thanks, James. Anyway, it was a bed, you know? And a paycheck."

Samson reached for another handful of granola. "Well, that explains you, then," he gestured to James, "What about you?"

"Well, I guess I did follow you that time, Jess," James admitted. "When I heard Jessie had joined Team Rocket, I went to apply. Probably a year had passed. She was my only friend, at the time." He gave me a little smile, and I returned it.

"I'm still your only friend."

"How sweet!" Samson said, although his expression remained stoic. I wondered how losing his partner had affected his ability to empathize. "So I'm sure you guys are, you know, a couple?"

"A couple what?" James asked, cocking his head.

I was already shaking my head before he finished his sentence. "No, no, no. Just partners."

"So that makes you available!" He looped an arm around my shoulders again. "Right on!"

I shrugged him off. "Not to you!"

"Feisty!" He gave me a look of mock disapproval. "Anyway, time spent in the force wasn't the only thing James and I talked about. We had an idea."

"Oh?" I looked to James, and he tensed visibly.

"Yeah, here's the thought: you guys are too experienced to be watching the doors, you know? We'll pull some Blue Jackets to take your job, and you come along with me and Tagg -" Tagg waved at the mention of his name. He was a younger Rocket with a crest of blond hair and a droopy lip. "- and Buck," Buck was the black-haired kid who had been sticking up for Samson at the campfire. He offered a thumbs-up when he heard his name.

"We've got hostage duty!" Buck yelled back to us, and he and Tagg exchanged a high-five.

"You talked about that?" The question was directed at Samson, but I glanced to James for his reaction.

He shifted his pack on his back, and lowered his voice. "Jess, this'll be that chance we've been looking for. Work our way up, you know?"

"Hm," Frankly, the idea of hostage duty scared the shit out of me. I didn't know what I would do with someone who was panicked and begging for their life. It just wasn't something I had done – or even really thought about doing – before. But, I suppose, there is a first time for everything. I wanted to be something more, after all. "Yeah, alright. We've got it."

"Perfect!" Now Samson was striking a lighter in front of a cigarette that dangled from his lips. "A chance for us to get to know each other a little better!" He nudged me playfully with an elbow, but I sensed there was some truth behind the teasing. The smoke from his cigarette smelled bitter and acrid as it wafted in my face.

Many cigarettes later, the skyline of Opelucid City crested the trees.

"Home free!" Buck shouted, but Tagg whacked him behind the head.

"Shut up! You want them to know we're here?"

"They can know whatever they want! I can take 'em if they want to say something about it."

"You and what army?" Tagg folded his arms skeptically.

"Me and THIS army!" Buck jumped on the backs of the two Rockets who walked ahead of them, who caught him and shouted something that sounded like a war cry, pounding their fists to the sky. It was surprising to see them so enthusiastic about the mission. I couldn't remember the last time I had been so excited about something we had been sent to do.

James smiled at the camaraderie of the others, and then to me. His eyes said "see? This will be good." I wanted to trust him. I wanted it to be good. He reached out and gave my hand a little squeeze discreetly as we walked.

"Everything will be okay. I promise."

I squeezed back, and let go. "You'd better keep it."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Force

When darkness fell, the temperature must have dropped another ten degrees. It was hard to crawl out of my warm sleeping bag when the whistles wakened us in the early hours of the morning, signaling the start of the mission. It was Attack Day. No time to sleep. Rockets sleepily began rolling their bags, someone dumped some water on the smoldering embers of the fire.

We were just out of sight of the city, tucked in the woods behind some sort of public works building, the workers there long since gone home, and not yet arrived for the morning. It was a good place for us to get organized to begin our storm of Lucid Labs. Occasionally, we would see the shuffling of other teams moving through the trees, and an anxious feeling began to well in my chest. The feeling surprised me – what was it about this task that made me feel different? This was just like any other mission we had been given, wasn't it? And James and I always nailed every one. Well, every one except the one we had been assigned to for almost ten years.

James arrived from a tent nearby with a handful of biscuits, two in each hand. He handed two to me wordlessly, his green eyes following the commotion around us. Men loaded our gear onto Rocket trucks quietly. A mountain of a driver climbed out of one of them with a green duffel bag slung over his shoulder. It was Samson he gave it to. I was too far away from them to hear the words exchanged, but the driver seemed confident as Samson gave him a hearty handshake and a pat on the back. Tagg and Buck were quick to take the bag from him.

Samson gave a brief, sharp whistle, and waved his hands over his head.

"Listen up! We have biscuits in the tent here. The tent will be gone in about 3 minutes. Eat up, chumps, because it will likely be your last meal for the next 24 hours." The group seemed to have already received that memo, because everyone was already quietly munching on their breakfast as he talked. "Here's the deal: you have all read through your paperwork. You know what you're doing. Let's just all do our jobs, and we'll have this work like clockwork, right?" Others nodded their agreement in the darkness. "Wrong, suckers!" With a cocky grin, he motioned for Tagg and Buck to empty the green duffel bag of its contents. A pile of inky black handguns spilled onto the grass. "For this mission, the White Jacket squad is going to have an advantage." Tagg and Buck tossed guns to each of the Rockets who surrounded them.

James shot me a panicked look. We have never used guns on a mission before. I'd maybe thrown a punch from time to time, but nothing we'd done had ever called for a _gun_. We may have been a diabolical gang bent on thievery and general no-good-ness, but there was always a sort of unspoken code that we would never kill anyone. Or had James and I just been living on the outskirts for so long, we didn't know how things had changed for Team Rocket?

I kept my expression strong and stoic, but inside, my heart was telling me to grab James, and run very, very far away.

Buck strode our way, handing us each a holster, a gun, and some ammunition. James held it like someone would hold a crying child – fearfully, away from him. Buck furrowed his eyebrows at my scared partner. "You _do_ know how to use one of those, right?"

"Of course he does!" I countered, trying not to look scared.

Buck looked him over skeptically, "Fair enough."

Samson spoke up again. "This is going to be our day, ladies and gents. We are going to show Lucid Labs, Opelucid City, and all of Unova, that we are not a force to be trifled with. We move out in a quarter of an hour. Be ready! Now, let's hear it: Honor and Strength!"

"Honor and Strength!" The crowd called back.

Without missing a beat, Samson nodded proudly, and strode my way. I felt James straighten his stance beside me as Samson came close. "Nice twist, huh, baby girl?"

"Don't call me that, really,"

He touched a calloused tan finger to my chin, leaning close. "Just looking out for my members. You've got strength. Show us you can use it."

"I can use it," I hissed back.

"Good," With that, he leaned down, and kissed me loosely on the lips. His mouth was dry, cracked. I tore away, staggering back, and landed a punch on the side of his face. Samson raised a hand to his cheek, and chuckled. "There it is! My kind of girl..."

As he walked away, James bristled. I straightened my jacket, trying to look non-plussed.

"The nerve...!" He started.

"James, just don't-"

"Don't what? Who does he think he is?"

"I'll deal with him later, just don't worry about it!"

There was hardly any time to worry about it anyway, as the tents were being packed up and the trucks were driving away. In a huff, James handed me his gun and holster, and strode off towards the trucks. I busied myself with figuring out how to wear the holster, and another female Rocket nearby came over to help me get it rigged up.

"Your partner cares for you a lot," She said, tightening the belt around my waist. "Don't let that asshole Samson get in the way of that. You two are going to need each other today."

I felt my eyes widen. "I can take care of us, thanks."

She offered a sympathetic smile. "I just know how Samson is," She explained. "You're a big girl, you make your own decisions." With a clap on the shoulder that made me feel like maybe she'd been keeping an eye on us longer than I knew, she stepped back into the crowd of Rockets, cocking their new weapons loudly and excitedly.

"10 minutes!" Samson boomed.

The sudden bustle of the crowd made me feel anxious, and I looked to the trucks to find where James had gone. There was no blue hair anywhere to be found, though, and I had a feeling I would find him somewhere away from the commotion. With a frenzied stride, I let my feet take me into the treeline. The sound of the rest of the group was distant when I found him, sitting on a log out of sight of the trucks and their drivers.

"James! We need to go!"

He dropped his head into his hands. "I know. I know we do..."

"Well, let's go! They're going to leave without us!" I grabbed his arm as I got close, but despite his thin frame, he was too heavy for me to pull to his feet. He took my hand instead.

"Can you listen to me for one second?"

"You've only _got_ one second!"

"Jessie," he dipped his head further between his shoulders. "I've just been thinking a lot about Delilah. About what would happen if..."

When he trailed off, I spoke up. "James, I know. But it won't happen. We need to go!"

"She fired a gun at them. That's how she died." He glanced to the gun now fastened around my waist. "I just have this feeling about this...about all of this." He took in a great gasp of air, tightening his soft hold on my hand. He threw his head back up to look my in the eye. "I don't think it's worth it, Jessie! I think we should go before this turns wrong. I think we could just run now-"

"James, no-"

"Jessie, please!" The sound of weapons loading and chattering Rockets behind us grew louder. James stood up. "Listen to me. Just this once. We don't need this. We are better than this. All of this!" He put his hands on my shoulders, and his eyebrows knitted. "And when he kissed you like that, I... Jessie, I... I think we need to be together. You and me."

My head was swimming. Behind us, I heard someone call my name. Leaves crunched and laughter approached as they came to find us.

"James, there is no time for this! We need to go."

His eyes searched mine. "I promised you we'll be fine. Can you just promise me you'll be here when there is over?"

I didn't even allow myself to think about the response. "I can't promise you anything."

He dropped his hands to his sides, dejected, stony. We stood like this for several moments, before Samson's voice called out "3 minutes, team!"

It was Tagg who reached us first, panting, "Everything alright? Let's go!"

James lowered his eyes. "Everything's fine." And walked back to camp.

Tagg frowned at me. "What's eating him?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

In the treeline surrounding Lucid Labs, I could look in every direction and see the red blaze of the Rocket "R" on my comrades' jackets. Expressions were determined, and everyone sat stone still. To my right, a member of my group fingered the gun at his side, tucked just under his white jacket. He was young, much younger than James and I, and I could see the fear in his brown eyes. He caught me looking, and turned his eyes my way.

"Honor and strength, right?"

"And courage," I added. "We'll be out of here soon."

We crouched for what seemed like hours, until the final worker straggled into the building, and I saw a Black Rocket charge up behind him, grabbing him around the neck in a calculated strong hold. His team flanked him, shouting orders to the bewildered scientist to activate his key card to let them into the building. Hands shaking, the scientist complied, and the Black Rockets rushed in, dragging him into a flood of men.

Once they were in, a mousy Black Rocket whistled, and Samson sprung from where he sat, spraying leaves and pine needles from below him, rushing towards the door. The rest of us hurried behind him. James stuck close to my side, quiet, but visibly pushing our conversation from earlier far from his mind. There was no time to talk about it, I told myself. Besides, this was go time. Samson and his team needed our help, regardless of how much of an asshole he had been earlier.

The sound of booted feet clamoring up several flights of stairs was deafening in the stair well, and it was impossible to pause for breath without being trampled by the dozens of Rockets ascending the building. Already, we could hear the doors being forcefully opened on floors that we passed, the screams of startled scientists echoing in the halls.

On the tenth floor, Samson wasted no time in lifting a heavy boot to kick in the door to the lab. Many others separated to cover the offices on the same floor. I muscled my way in behind Tagg and Buck, seeing the workers inside already on their knees, with their hands raised in various positions of high in the air to bracing their heads.

"We have nothing here," One of them said in a voice that was meant to be strong, but I could hear the waver in it.

"Shut up!" Samson drew his gun on the man, pushing the steely nose against the man's gray hair. "Don't you think we know that?"

A woman screamed out and bolted towards the gray-haired man, where two Rockets grabbed her, tossing her to the ground effortlessly and pinning her.

The gray hair man swallowed a sob. "Please, we haven't done anything."

"You need to stop talking!" Samson bellowed, and then addressed the room, "You all need to shut the fuck up! Tagg, Buck, take them!"

Tagg and Buck were emotionless as they also drew their guns on several kneeling workers, and many of the other White Jackets followed their example, if somewhat reluctantly. I grabbed a nearby woman with an arm around her neck as she made a dash for the door, unwilling or unable to touch the weapon at my side. Another Rocket blocked the door closed with his body, training his gun on the room.

James was behind me, his long blue hair matted from nights in the woods, holding only a Pokeball threateningly above two young men who were hunkered in the corner of the room. I suppressed a smile. Of course he would.

The woman I held suddenly burst into hysterical tears. I felt my body shudder, trying to be as emotionless as I could.

"Jessie!" Samson cried, somewhat reprimanding. "Take care of her!"

I tightened my hold on her. "Quiet down!" Willing my courage to surface. It was a meager effort, and it didn't stop her screaming, but Samson flicked me a smirk of approval. I knew this was mostly going to be an effort to keep his power trip at bay.

Upstairs, where the more important labs were, the sound of the attack was evident. The sound of boots was constant, and I could identify the sound of many Rockets laying traps and barricading doors, shouting orders to each other. This seemed to be going surprisingly well. But there was no surprise on the faces of the White Jackets in the room with me. I knew that for many of them, this was the optimum chance for promotion, and their confident stances reflected this.

It was a matter of minutes before we heard the sirens of the Jennies arriving outside. I almost laughed. Minutes? How many people could we have killed at this point? Typical Jenny promptness. A look past James and his hostages to a great office window revealed the scene outside, Jennies and Growlithes swarming the building in multitudes, taking a few steps before drawing their own weapons. They all stopped before they reached the front door, however, and I could only assume there were Rockets with hostages below. One raised a megaphone, but the sound coming from it sounded like it was underwater from where I watched.

The room grew somewhat calmer with the presence of the Jennies. Our captives seemed to have confidence in the work of their protectors, and I wanted to tell them how incompetent they really were. How many times we had evaded them effortlessly. Samson took care of that for me first.

"They won't help you," He didn't even bother to look outside. "We'll be out of here soon with what we need. There's nothing they can do."

"You're wrong!" Someone shouted, I watched the anger swell on his face. He moved his gun to his new victim.

"One more word," He seethed. "I will not hesitate."

I had to admit, this was what I had always imagined Team Rocket to be. This group was bold and courageous, something I hadn't seen in my compatriots in a very long time. I suppose many years of failure eventually boils to a head for some. I found myself...kind of liking it.

There was several minutes of negotiating from the ground below us, and for a while it was quiet. When one of James' hostages made a panicked scramble for the door, I delivered him a swift kick to the teeth, and he collapsed to the floor, a mouth full of blood. The sight of his broken teeth surprised me.

A deep laugh rose from Samson's throat. "That's my girl,"

"I'm not your girl!" I shouted back, adrenaline flowing.

"Not yet," He kissed the air in my direction.

It was then that I heard the sound of gunshots below us. The sound ignited our hostages, and many of them rose to their feet to look out the window.

"I am warning you," Samson bellowed, "get to the floor!" They slumped to the ground, except for one man, who began frantically pounding on the window, seemingly to break it.

"You will not have another warning!" Samson shouted, but before he could finish, there was a deafening bang, and the man's body slumped to the ground, blood trickling from his shoulder where he was hit. Tagg's gun was smoking, and he looked somewhat bewildered by the consequence.

Samson lowered his gun. "Tagg, Jesus!"

The room erupted in chaos. The women screamed, and men began to struggled against their captors. Somehow one of the workers managed to wrestle a gun from the young Rocket I had seen in the woods that morning, who held it before him with shaking hands. I ducked instinctively as it fired, but I was not the intended target. The White Jacket guarding the door wordlessly fell to the ground.

Suddenly, above us, there was the sound of smoke bombs exploding. It didn't take long for the bitter smell of smoke to begin creeping in the cracks of the door, around the Rocket's lifeless body.

I wondered what kept Samson from instantly killing the scientist who fired at the door guard. A look to his place by the window revealed that a bomb blast from the floor above us had caused a steel beam to plummet through the ceiling, and he was crushed below it.

My mind swirled so quickly that I was unable to form thoughts. So many bodies littered the floor. My heart beat so frantically that I had to stumble against a wall to brace myself. My hostage scrambled for the door, and, without a leader, the Rockets seemed confused as to what should happen next.

As we tried to make sense of what was happening around us, there was another deafening explosion from the floors above – one that didn't sound quite like a smoke bomb. Embers rained down outside the window. The walls rattled, and dust and debris poured from the gaping hole in the ceiling above Samson's body.

"It's collapsing," I found myself saying, "It's collapsing! We need to get out!"

No one wasted any time in getting to the doors, Rockets and workers alike. James grabbed my hand as he passed me, pulling me to the hallway. But it wasn't long before the surge of rushing bodies pulled him from me, and I found myself lost in the crowd panicked people.

A searing pain jolted through my skull, and my vision became black. I only caught a glimpse of the worker who bludgeoned me with the leg of a chair before he disappeared into the stairwell. My legs gave way, and I fell into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

James came into the door of our cabin looking positively ridiculous in my Jessalina outfit. I twisted around at the table where I sat, wrapped in several layers of blankets, my face red and my nose runny.

"You look ridiculous!" I couldn't help but laugh, and he smiled tiredly.

"And you are the picture of beauty yourself."

"I know you mean that," I joked, and he dropped to the floor, exhausted, beside me. I had trained for weeks to go the contest that day, but when I fell sick, he didn't hesitate to don my costume and go in my place. With his hair splayed out like an bird's wings around his head where he lay on the floor, eyes closed, I almost wanted to lean down and kiss him, but I managed to wrangle my feelings in.

"Well?" I settled for hands on my hips, and an impatient smile.

"Well what? Oh, I bet you want this." He didn't open his eyes as he reached into the pocket of the dress, pulling from it a beautiful first place contest ribbon.

I screamed in delight, clutching it to my chest despite my sickness, and he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"I guess that means I did well, then,"

I threw my arms around his shoulders, and he felt warm and solid. "You are my best friend in the whole wide world. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

For a moment, we were able to forget that we were trapped under the gaze of Team Rocket. We could forget about this life we had chosen when we were so young, when we couldn't have known better. For now, it was just me and him. And as he brought his arms up to return the hug, I suddenly found myself so regretful for all those times I'd berated him, hit him, insulted him. There was truly no one in the world he cared for more, and, I thought, just maybe, I could return the sentiment.

* * *

Slowly, the weight lifted from my eyelids, and the sound of fire roared nearby. It took me a minute to realize that I wasn't in that warm, fire-lit cabin with James. I was in the dusty hallway of a collapsing building, and time was running out. I crawled a short distance to the stairwell, using the railing to pull myself unsteadily to my feet. The distant cries of the wounded were hard to listen to, but as I stumbled down a few stairs, I found that there weren't many people left in the building anymore.

"How long was I out?" I muttered aloud, putting a hand to my head where I had been hit. My hand came away sticky and bloody, but I knew I would be in much worse shape if I didn't get out now. If I could just get James to-

James! Where was James?

I called his name weakly, and smoke filled my lungs as I inhaled. I coughed, sputtering, but at least I was able to walk. I picked my way down the stairs carefully, finding a little more strength to try again.

"James!" I shouted, and the building shuddered. Behind me, the door frames of the tenth floor rattled, and fell to the floor. With the doors gone, I could see that the room we had been in was a criss-cross of fallen steel beams. Still looking back, I took another step down the stairs, and nearly fell when my foot landed on the back of a dead Rocket below me. The breath was sucked from my chest at the sight of the blood soaking the back of his white jacket, pierced by a bullet. For a moment, I feared that I had found my best friend, but I was relieved to see that his matted, bloody hair was brown – not blue.

"Honor and strength," I muttered to him. But there was little else I could do to help him now. I would die with him if I didn't get out now.

As I descended a flight of stairs, the smoke grew thick, and I could hardly see my hand in front of me as I felt my way down the stairs. I called out James' name periodically, but the moaning of those injured nearby offered the only reply. After several flights of stairs, my heart began to race. What if he was somewhere in here? What if I just wasn't finding him? What if I would never find him? I started to become panicked and unfocused, and my feet slipped on the stairs as I walked.

As my mind grew hazy, I tried to adjust to life without him. Without waking up in the morning and seeing his face next to mine. Without him to tell me my ideas were incredulous. Without him to be my pillar of strength when things grew tough.

But I thought I could get by. I was strong, I told myself. I would start a new life with this new, powerful Team Rocket. Maybe Samson wasn't so bad after all. Maybe they would team us up. Two widowed Rockets...

My ears began to ring with the increasing noise of the collapsing building. As I passed by a window, I watched a chunk of concrete plummet to the ground. Maybe it was the imminent danger, or maybe it was the smoke getting to me, but I found myself suddenly slumping to sit on the stairs, staring blankly out the window. I felt a tear escape my eye, drawing a clean line through the soot on my face.

"I can't do it," I said aloud, "I can't do it without you. I'm sorry, James." With that, a great sob burst from my chest, and I dropped my head into dirty hands.

But below me, someone stirred. Gray-blue hair bobbed on the landing below, a limp arm slung across his shoulder. I lifted my head.

"Who's there?"

The man paused, and the arm slid gently from his shoulder. The man moaned as he was set against the wall. I could see his body turn to face up the stairwell.

"Jessie?" I could barely hear the word over the horrible rumble of the building. Again, he spoke up. "Jess?"

"Oh my god," I launched myself from where I sat, hobbling as quickly as I could down the stairs. My back ached fiercely, but my brain just about shut off as my body propelled itself towards him. When I reached the landing, I threw myself against him, and his arms caught me in a tremendous bear-hug. He buried his head in my shoulder.

"Jessie..." He began to weep into my shoulder, and my hands shook. "I thought you were gone, I didn't know what to do..."

"How could you leave me there?" I grabbed his jacket in handfuls behind his back, crying in heavy, wracking sobs.

"I thought you were gone! Oh god, Jessie..."

I pulled my head up, fully intending to give him an earful, but instead couldn't help myself from kissing him hard. He was smoky and ash-covered. His shaking hands weaved through my hair.

"We need to get out of here," I said to tear-streaked James, and, swallowing his emotions, he sucked in a breath.

"Yes, we do. There aren't many people left alive in here..." He glanced back to the floor behind him. A painted "4" marked the entrance to the landing. We still had a ways to go.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, but there are people who need our help..." He stopped again to pull the man from against the wall. The man's thick glasses were shattered, and his shirt torn and bloody. "I've been taking them outside..."

"Outside? What about the Jennies?"

"I don't know, I haven't been letting them see me. I guess they're busy somewhere else. They need our help Jessie. A lot of them are going to die."

His eyes were passionate, steely green. I nodded, and took the man's other arm over my shoulder.

"Let's go."


End file.
